Apparatus for separating a plurality of bars



United States Patent 3,471,039 APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING A PLURALITY 0FBARS William P. Fulginiti, McCandless Township, Allegheny County, andQuin Shen Yu, Forest Hills, Pa., assignors to United States SteelCorporation, a corporation of Delaware Filed June 14, 1967, Ser. No.645,928 Int. Cl. B65g' 60/00, 49/00 US. Cl. 2148.5 8 Claims ABSTRACT OFTHE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to apparatus for separating aplurality of bars arranged side by side into two groups. When barbillets are rolled from an ingot they are of such length'that they mustbe cut into a number of sections for further processing. These sectionsinclude a top section which includes the top part of theingot, a bottomsection which includes the bottom part of the ingot, and several middlesectionsL-For various reasons it is necessary to separate the top,bottom and middle sections and identify them. At the present time oneway of separating the bars is to allow the top and bottom bars to passover a hot bed onanormal cooling cycle after which they are unloadedfrom the discharge end of the hot bed and placed in storage bins forsubsequent cooling. Later, when the hot bed is not being used thebillets are placed back on the hot bed for proper identification andseparation and unloaded manually for further processing. The middlebillets are separated as they come from the mill and cooled on anotherhot bed.

It is therefore an object of our invention to provide apparatus forreadily separating top, middle and bottom billets or bars.

Another object is to provide such apparatus for separating top bars frombottom bars at the discharge end of the hot bed on which they arecooled.

These and other objects will be more apparent after referring to thefollowing specification and attached drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of the apparatus for our invention, withparts broken away and omitted in order to show the parts on a largerscale;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a view taken on the line IIIIII of FIG- URE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a view taken on the line 1V-IV of FIG- URE 1;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary view showing the top and bottom barsseparated, but with the bars of each group in abutting relationship; and

FIGURE 6 is a view taken on the line VI-VI of FIGURE 1.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, reference numeral 2indicates a cooling bed of conventional construction. Billets rolled ina billet mill are sheared into a predetermined number of pieces ofdesired length. In one particular installation one top piece T, fourmiddle pieces, and one bottom piece B are cut from one billet. Themiddle pieces are conveyor to a second hot bed, not shown, and the topand bottom pieces are transferred alternately and packed in a group oftwelve on the hot bed 2. This hot bed includes a plurality of transverseskids 4 on which the pieces B and T rest. Means, not shown, such asdisappearing dogs mounted on a carriage driven by a wire rope, may beprovided to position the pieces B and T at the discharge end of the hotbed 2. A plurality of bar lifters 6 spaced apart longitudinally of thebed 2 are arranged between pairs of skids 4. While two such lifters areshown, the number may vary as required. Each bar lifter 6 (FIGURE 4)includes a vertical hydraulic cylinder 8 having a piston rod 10connected to a horizontal cross head 12 which has its ends received invertical guides 14. Six spaced apart vertical fingers 16 are attached toand extend upwardly from the cross head 12. The distance between thefingers 16 is greater than the width of the bars and the width of thefingers 16 is slightly less than the width of the bars.

Two separating devices 18 are provided between adjacent pairs of barlifters 6. Each separating device 18 is located between adjacent skids4. Each separating device 18 (FIGURE 3) includes a horizontal hydrauliccylinder 20 having its piston rod 22 attached to a cross head 24. A peel26 is attached to the cross head 24 and extends parallel to the pistonrod 22 toward the hydraulic cylinder 20. A pusher dog 27 is attached tothe top of cross head 24. The hydraulic cylinder 20 is located below thetop of the skids 4 and the peel 26 is located above the top of the skids4 a distance at least as great as the thickness of the bars B and T. Thecross head is guided by spaced apart guides 28 (FIGURES 1 and 2). Stops30 are spaced apart along the length of cooling bed 2 with each guidebeing positioned between adjacent skids 4. A guide 32 is provided foreach stop 30 and is attached to the skids 4. A screw actuator 34 isconnected to the bottom of each stop 30 to move it up and down. In itslower position (FIGURE 6) the top of the stop 30is below the top of theskids 4. The stops 30 are aligned longitudinally of the cooling bed 2 ata position slightly to one side of the bars B and T.

The operation of our device is as follows:

With the bars B and T located on the skids 4, as shown, and with allparts in the positions shown in FIGURES l to 4, and 6, the bar lifters 6are raised by providing fluid to the bottom of cylinders 8. This willraise all the top bars T simultaneously by means of the fingers 16engaging the bottom of the bars. This positions the bars T from the barsB a distance at least as great as the vertical height of peels 26. Thestops 30 are raised by means of the screw actuators 34 from the positionshown in FIG- URE 6 to the position shown in FIGURE 5. Fluid is thendelivered to the forward end of cylinders 20 so that the peels 26 willmove from the full line position of FIG- URE 3 into the space betweentop bars T and bottom bars B as shown in the broken line position ofFIGURE 3. The bar lifters 6 are then lowered until the fingers 16 arebelow the peels 26. Continued movement of the peels 26 will cause thecross heads 24 and pusher dogs 27 to engage the bottom bars B and topbars T to push 3 them against the stops 30 as shown in FIGURE 5. Amagnet 36, attached to a crane, not shown, can now unload all the topbars T from the peels 26. Fluid is then introduced to the rear end ofcylinders 20 so as to retract the peels 26 to their starting position.The magnet 36 can then unload all the bottom bars B from the skids 4.The cycle will then be repeated.

While one embodiment of our invention has been shown and described, itwill be apparent that other adaptations and modifications may be made.

We claim:

1. Apparatus for separating a plurality of elongated bars into twogroups at diiferent elevations comprising means for supporting said barsin side by side relationship, and said means including a plurality oflongitudinally spaced apart transverse supports having their tops in acommon generally horizontal plane for engaging said bars; and aplurality of longitudinally spaced apart bar lifting means arrangedbetween said spaced apart supports for engaging only some of said bars,each of said bar lifting means including fingers for engaging selectedspaced apart bars, said fingers being spaced apart a distance greaterthan the horizontal transverse width of a bar, and means for raisingsaid fingers with the selected bars thereon to a position where there isa vertical space between the bottom of the selected bars and the top ofthe remaining bars.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which each of said bar liftingmeans includes a generally horizontal cross head, vertical guide meansfor said cross head, said fingers being attached to said cross head inspaced apart relationship and extending upwardly therefrom to an initialposition below the top of said transverse supports, said fingers beingspaced apart a distance greater than the width of the fingers and thewidth of the fingers being less than the width of the bars, and meansfor raising said cross head and fingers so that said fingers raisealternate bars.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 including stop means arranged adjacentone of the outer bars on the side remote from the other bars; and aplurality of spaced apart separators arranged between said bar liftingmeans; each separator including a peel, means for moving said peelbetween said selected bars and the remaining bars, and means for pushingthe selected bars against said stop means into one group and theremaining bars into another group.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3 in which each said separators includesa fluid cylinder and piston rod arranged between adjacent supports belowthe top thereof, a cross head attached to said piston rod on the side ofsaid bars remote from said stop means and extending above the top ofsaid supports, and means supporting said peel on said cross head abovesaid supports with said peel extending parallel to the top of saidsupports and toward said stop means.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4 in which said stop means includes aplurality of vertically positioned pins, 9. guide for each pin, andmeans for moving each pin from a lower position with its topsubstantially in the plane of the top of said supports to an upperposition to be contacted by said top andbottom bars.

6. Apparatus according to claim .3 int which each of said bar liftingmeans includes a generally horizontal cross head, vertical guide meansfor said cross head, said fingers being attached to said cross head inspaced apart relationship and extending upwardly therefrom to an initialposition below the top of said transverse supports, said fingers beingspaced apart a distance greater than the width of the fingers and thewidth of the" fingers being less than the width of the bars, and meansfor raising said cross head and fingers so that said fingers raisealternate bars.

7. Apparatus according to claim'6 in which each of said separatorsincludes a fluid cylinder and piston rod arranged between adjacentsupports below the top thereof, a cross head attached to said piston rodon the side of said bars remote from said stop means and extending abovethe top of said supports, and means supporting said peel on said crosshead above said supports with said peel extending parallel to the top ofsaid supports and toward said stop means.

8. Apparatus according to claim 7 in which said stop means includes aplurality of vertically positioned pins, a guide for each pin, and meansfor moving each pin from a lower position with its top substantially inthe plane of the top of said supports to an upper position to becontacted by said top and bottom bars.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENT 823,051 6/1906 Keyes. 2,498,071 2/1950 Dalziel. 2,649,232 8/ 1953 Ferguson. 3,258,145 6/1966" Costello2l4-16.4 X

GERALD M. FORLENZA, Primary Examiner GEORGE F. ABRAHAM, AssistantExaminer US. Cl. X.R. 2l41, 6

